Car-coupling



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 W. MGGONWAY.

GAR COUPLING.

No. 281,901. Patented July 24 1883.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. MQCONWAY.

GAR COUPLING.

No. 281,901. Patented y 4,1883

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N. PETERS PhnkoLilhomphur. Walhingion. D4 Q (No Model.)

W. MOOONWAY.

GAR COUPLING.

'PatentedJuly 24, 1883.

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' UNITED STATES PATIENT Oriucn.

VILLIAM MOCONVVAY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 281,901, dated Iuly 24,1883.

Application filed April 4,1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM MCCONWAY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented or discovered anew and useful Improvement in Oar-CouplerMechanisms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,concise, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making a part of this specification. 7

Two of the leading car-couplers now in use in this country by manyrailway-lines are known the one as the Miller and the other as the Janney. It is frequently necessary, in railroading, to transfer cars fromoneline to another, and it sometimes happens that a car equipped withone of these couplers has to be made up in a train of cars which areequipped with the other.

My present invention relates to construction and combination of devicesby means of which the Miller and Janney coupling-heads or coup .lersproper are rendered interchangeable on the same car, so that one may betaken out or removed and the other inserted quickly without expense andwith little labor.

In the drawings, Figure 1, Sheet 1, represents in perspective a portionof the framework of a passenger-car platform with my improved apparatusapplied thereto, with the Janney buffers, but without the Millercoupling-head, which, as I make it, is shown in Fig. 2, or the Janneycoupling-head as Imake it, which is shown in Fig. 3, or the Millerbuffer as I make it, which is shown in Fig. 4..- Fig. 5, Sheet 2, is aninverted or bottom view of a portion of the frame of a car-platform asfitted up with the Miller coupler, but with the J anney buffers inplace, their presence not being objectionable. Fig. 6 shows atransversesection through the plane of the line x as of Fig. 5. Fig. 7, Sheet 3,is a view similar to Fig. 5, but with the Miller coupler and bufferremoved and the J anney coupler inserted; and Fig. 8 is apartly-sectional view of Fig. 7, in the plane of the line no, and an endview as to the rest.

In the drawings, A A represent two of the main longitudinal sills of anordinary passenger-car, and A A are two of the transverse The end sillalso has metallic sockets a through which pass the stems b of the Jannoy buffers 13*, on opposite sides and at about equal dis tances fromthe longitudinal center line of the car, and these stems are at theirrear ends connected to the opposite ends of an equalizing bar or lever,13 which latter, at its center, is seated or fulcrumed in a seat orseats in the rear end of the Miller yoke 13. This yoke, at its rear end,is bifurcated, forked, or U shaped, so as to form two arms, V, Fig. 6,the rear ends of which furnish seats for the equalizing-bar B andbetween such arms b is the upper end of a Janney yoke, O. This upper endof the J anney yoke is formed of two vertical bars. 0 a, united at thetop by a cr'oss-piece, c, and by means of concave seats on the face ofsuch bars 0 it has a bearing on the rear side of a cross-head, 8, Figs.1 and 6, made 011 the forward end of a spring-rod, s, which projectsback through the equalizing-bar B and carries a stiff spring, 8, undercompression, and which spring bears at one end against the rear of theequalizing-bar B and at its other endagainst a nut, s. The Miller yoke Bis otherwise constructed and arranged substantially as is usual in theMiller apparatus, and the purpose of the .construction thus described isto effect a working combination or coaction betweenit and the J anneyyoke O, with attainment of the ends presently to be described.

The J anney yoke C is of the form and construction substantially asshown, and has, under the conditions hereinafter stated, a rock ingmotion on the fixed pivot-shaft c", and has also a rear bearing ontheT-shaped arms a of a stem, 0 which latter is secured to an upright post,9, which is made solid with or is affixed to the draw-head barrel G. Thelatter, except as hereinafter described, may have any form orconstruction usual at the rear ends of the draw-bars, or suitable forthe purpose. As

'usual follower, springs, &c., is connected with the car-body in theusual or any known way. The forward end of this draw-head barrel Gterminates in a tenon, of suitable size to e11- ter and fit neatly intoa mortise or recess, 72, as made in the rear end of the Millercouplerhead H, Fig. 2, or in the rear end of the J an ney coupler-headH, Fig. 3, and so that they may be secured together by a bolt passingthrough the holes h.

So much or about so much of the Miller and Janney couplers as isrepresented in Figs. 2

I and 3, and included herein each under the terms draw-head or coupler,is made separate from the rear or draw-bar portions thereof, so that bya mortise-and-tenon or 7 other suitable joint either one at pleasure maybe removed and the other inserted through a stirrup, R, and be properlysecured, and the half-joint made on the rear ends of the drawheads H Hshould be the same in size and form, and should conform to the size andform, of the other half or part of the joint as made on the forward endof the draw-barrel; hence it will be seen that the draw-heads areinterchangeable, and that the change can, when required, be easily andquickly made and without expense. Then the J anney draw-head is used,the Miller buffer B should be removed,

as it ordinarily projects too far forward to be "in fact, anyconsiderable lateral or side motion would interfere with its properaction; but the Miller, on the other hand, makes and releases engagementby virtue of a side or lateral movement; hence provision must be madewhereby the Miller draw-head or coupler may have av limited range ofside movement in the stirrup R, and so that the J anney shall havelittle or none. To this end I make the opening through the stirrup Rbroad enough to allow the part 1', Fig. 2, which plays therein, to movefar enough sidewise for the purpose described; and on the correspondingpart of the Janney coupler or draw-head I increase the width, as at 1-7-, Fig. 3, so that it shall fill or approximately fill the entire widthof the opening in the stirrup B.

When the Miller coupler is in use, it must at all times be under stronglateral tension, so as to bring its hook over into engagement with thecorresponding hook on the next car. To secure this I join to the post 9and to the de pending lug a shackle, d, and pivot thereto a stem, d,which projects out laterally through a depending bracket, (1 and carriesa spring, (1, under the proper compression; and as it is desirable, whenthe change of one coupler for another is to be made, that this tensionbe removed or put out of practical action, I prowhen the latter isremoved.

'on its pivot-shaft c vide for this by a swinging dog, 9', which, whenthe coupler is pulled to the right, Figs. 5 and 6, may be swung up sothat its free end shall bear against the adjacent side of the bracket (1and thereby hold the draw-head or coupler about in the middle of theopening in the stir rup R. \Vhen the occasion for this locked adjustmentno longer exists, a pull on the op crating-lever n, Figs. 1 and 5, willloosen the dog and let it swing down out of the way. For the purpose ofswinging the Miller coupler iiito an unlocking position, or intoposition for removal, the usual chain, a, and the lever 11, Fig. 5, areemployed in the usual way; but to render the coupler removable with theleast trouble and without danger of loss or interference of parts, Iconnect the chain a permanently with the coupler, and by a detachablehook, 1?, provide for connecting it with or disconnecting it from thelever. The chain then goes with the coupler, as illustrated in Fig. 2,

A chain hanging loosely to the lever 02 would be highly objectionable ona swiftly-moving train.

To operate the catch, which in the Janney coupler holds the hook h inits interlocked. position, and which releases it so that it may swingopen at the proper time, I employ the usual slotted lever, h but tosecure a detachable connection I make the slot open at its extreme end.Then when the Janney draw-head II is inserted through the stirrup R theopen end of the slot in the crank-lever k passes onto the operating stem6 inside a- T-head or button, 0, the other end of said stem beingsepresence, when the Miller coupler is in use, is

not objectionable, it is unnecessary to provide for its removal.

The particular object of the yoke Ois to secure a conjoint action or aco-operation between the draw-heads and the buffers, whichever apparatusbe used, so that the foree, or some portion thereof, with which thecouplers come together, over and above what is necessary to eifect theirinterlocking engagement, shall be transferred to the buffers; and it isalso an important function of the apparatus to prevent or take up slackmotion between cars, so that as the draw-bars move outward a littleunder the yielding effect of their springs the buffers shall therebyalso be drawn forward, and the buffers of adjacent cars shall be kept inclose and firm engagement or contact. The first of these two functionsis secured chiefly when the Janney couplers are used. The back -thrustwhich they give on coming together pushes the draw-barrel G backward,the lug g engages the lower bow or end of the yoke O, pushes it back,and causes it to turn This tends to throw the upper end of the yokeforward, draw forward on the cross-head s and rod .3, compress thespring 8 and through it pushes forward on the equalizing-lever B and ofcourse on the buffers B Whatever force in this direction is exercisedwhen the Miller coupler and buffer B are used will be transmitted fromthe equalizing-levers B, through the Miller yoke B, to the Miller bufferB. When the buffers,which ever apparatus is in use, come intoengagement, during or after coupling, their backward action istransmitted, by paths the reverse of those above described, to theJanney yoke C, which, through cross-pin 0* and stem 0 draws back on thedraw;barrel, but with a less rapid motion. Hence,when the couplers areunited or coupled car to car, all slack motion will be taken up 5 also,if the draw-bar springs yield unduly, the spring 8 back of theequalizingbar B, will tend to pressthe buffers into contact,whicheverapparatus is in use.

In so far as relates to the combination of the Miller yoke B and the Janney yoke 0, other suitable means of making a pivoted connection of oneto the other may be employed, even to the exclusion of the stem s andsprings s",- but I believe the construction shown and described to bethe best, and I accordingly include it herein as a part of my invention.

I claim herein as my invention 1. As a means of securing theinterchangeability of the Miller and J anney couplers, a

draw-head barrel, G, having a half-j oint on the forward or outer endthereof, in combination with the coupler having the counterpart ofsuch'half-joint on the rear or inner end thereof, and suitable means forconnecting and disconnecting such half-joints, substantially as setforth.

2. The combination of the yoke B and the' 6. The swinging dog incombination with i a laterally-movable draw-bar, and with bracket d andspring (1, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WVILLIAM McOONlVAY. Witnesses:

R. H. WiirTrLEsnY, GEORGE H. GHRIsTY.

